Embry – Riddle Aeronautical University: Dark Matter Differences Beyond the Milky Way – Mass Modeling the Andromeda Dwarf Galaxies

Dwarf galaxies within the Local Group cannot typically be held together by their stellar matter alone, leaving them as valuable laboratories for dark matter investigations. Dark matter mapped in the dwarf galaxies around our Milky Way show different distributions than those around the spiral galaxy in Andromeda (M31).

Join Connor Pickett, a returning ERAU alum, as he discusses results from his PhD research that show these differences and possible reasons for them. Does Andromeda’s more active merger history and tidal interactions significantly influence the properties of its dwarf galaxies, and could investigating these factors lead to an improvement in our understanding of dark matter? This is a more technical science talk than our usual planetarium shows and will give you an opportunity to talk to the astronomer.